(The Richmond faithful celebrate on the floor of the Robins Center after the Spiders' 69-64 upset win over Dayton. Richmond took sole possession of first-place in the A-10 with the win.)
The Tommy 25, Jan. 8, 2024
Ranking | Team | Last Week |
1 | UConn | 1 |
2 | Purdue | 2 |
3 | North Carolina | 3 |
4 | Houston | 5 |
5 | Tennessee | 7 |
6 | Kentucky | 4 |
7 | Wisconsin | 14 |
8 | Marquette | 9 |
9 | Duke | 11 |
10 | Arizona | 8 |
11 | Iowa State | 21 |
12 | Auburn | 6 |
13 | Kansas | 10 |
14 | Creighton | 15 |
15 | Texas Tech | 20 |
16 | New Mexico | 19 |
17 | Illinois | 12 |
18 | Dayton | 13 |
19 | TCU | 23 |
20 | Utah State | 22 |
21 | Alabama | NR |
22 | Baylor | 16 |
23 | South Carolina | NR |
24 | San Diego State | 24 |
25 | Saint Mary's | 25 |
Dropped out: Seton Hall (17), Oklahoma (18)
Just out: Northwestern, Richmond, FAU, Florida, BYU, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Indiana State
Quick Hits
Is it time to panic about Kansas (16-4, 4-3)? The Jayhawks are off to their worst Big 12 start in the Bill Self era and are seriously plagued with depth concerns that we have been worried about since the offseason. Kansas is really struggling on the road (but then again, who isn't?) and are really having trouble finding any sort of meaningful production from their bench.
This weekend's slate of games is about as good as it gets in college basketball. It really doesn't get better than this. Seriously, check out our games of the week:
Dayton (16-3, 6-1) took their first Atlantic-10 loss of the season on the road to Richmond (15-5, 7-0) on Saturday. Dayton stays very well-positioned for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament even if they are unable to win the A-10, but Richmond is the real story here. The Spiders have overcome a relatively shaky start to the season with a ten game winning streak, making their at-large hopes fully alive.
After weeks of telling ourselves that Quad 1 wins will come for Auburn (16-4, 5-2), the Tigers blew two more opportunities in the top quadrant this week. Metrics (namely the NET and KenPom) LOVE Auburn, but they're still searching for a high-quality win to prove the computers correct. Auburn now sits at 0-3 in Quad 1 and are yet to beat anyone near the tournament picture away from home. Despite this, the Tigers hover between a 3-seed and a 5-seed in most recent bracket projections.
You can follow me on Twitter @tommy_marq for more analysis during the week!